Persoonia brachystylis facts for kids

Persoonia brachystylis is a type of flowering plant that belongs to the Proteaceae family. This plant is special because it only grows in a small area on the west coast of Western Australia. It's a shrub that stands upright and spreads out, with smooth bark. Its leaves are long and thin, and it has bright yellow flowers that grow in clusters.

What is Persoonia brachystylis?

This plant is a shrub that usually grows to be about 1 to 1.5 meters (3 to 5 feet) tall. It has bark that looks mottled or spotted with grey. When the young branches first grow, they are covered in many tiny hairs.

Leaves and Flowers

The leaves of Persoonia brachystylis are long and narrow. They can be shaped like a spatula, a thin line, or a spearhead. These leaves are typically 45 to 120 millimeters (1.8 to 4.7 inches) long. They are also 2 to 10 millimeters (0.08 to 0.4 inches) wide.

The flowers are shaped like cylinders and grow in groups. Each group has about ten to twenty flowers. Each flower sits on a small stalk called a pedicel, which is 7 to 15 millimeters (0.3 to 0.6 inches) long. The flower parts, called tepals, are bright yellow. They are 10 to 13 millimeters (0.4 to 0.5 inches) long and 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters (0.06 to 0.1 inches) wide. Inside the flowers, the anthers (parts that hold pollen) are white.

When it Flowers and Fruits

Persoonia brachystylis usually flowers from November to December or even into January. After flowering, it produces a fruit. This fruit is an oval-shaped drupe, which is a type of fruit with a hard pit inside. The fruit is about 10 to 12 millimeters (0.4 to 0.5 inches) long and 6 to 7 millimeters (0.2 to 0.3 inches) wide.

How Scientists Name Plants

The way scientists name and classify living things is called Taxonomy. Persoonia brachystylis was first officially described in 1868. This was done by a scientist named Ferdinand von Mueller. He wrote about it in his book called Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. He used plant samples collected by Augustus Frederick Oldfield near the Murchison River.

Where it Lives

This special plant, also known as a geebung, only grows in one specific place. It is found in the Kalbarri National Park in Western Australia. It likes to grow in low, open areas with sandy soil. Often, it grows on top of a type of rock called laterite.